Cello Video Lessons

Bow Hand Essentials - 4 parts

How to Hold a Cello Bow

Cellists, cello teachers, orchestra teachers! This video walks through the absolute essentials of holding the cello bow so you or your student can begin well and mature into a masterful technique with deep tone, flexibility, agility, and strength. 

Beginners: revisit this video for a bow hold review every few months. 

Teachers: share this around to your cello students and parents of students to keep these concepts fresh.

Cello Bow Hand Yoga

Relaxation is an elusive friend, but keeping a relaxed bow hand is so important for cellists. It's a constant game of strengthening and relaxing, flexing and releasing. 

Try this bow hand yoga routine with a pen, a pencil, a short stick - whatever you have on hand! This will improve your coordination, your flexibility, and train your hand to remain in control while managing your relaxation. If you can release tension and stay flexible, you can play all day.

Bow Hand Exercises

Get your bow on the string, work all your angles for great string contact, and wrap the bow around the cello for balanced string crossings. Try these two bow hand exercises with your cello and build your control, flexibility, and balance. 

1) Gear Shift 2) Windshield Wiper 

Warmup with "Gear Shift" to train your arm into the best lines for balanced and quick string crossings. 

Warmup with "Windshield Wiper" to prep your bow hand for all the angles you'll need to pull a full, long bow with great contact and tone throughout.

Cello Double Stops

Here's a simple cello exercise using double stops and an easy first position scale. It's a great way to improve several technique points in one exercise! 

1) Left hand posture and hand frame 

2) Intonation in first position 

3) Tone production 

4) Right arm balance and control 

5) Long bows 

6) Double stop tone 

7) Active listening 

8) EXTRA CREDIT: Breathing 

9) EXTRA CREDIT: Use other scales and modes (G minor, G mixolydian, etc) 

10) EXTRA CREDIT: Apply creative string-crossing bow patterns (with or without double stops)